January 25, 2012 - When Jesus Christ came to the earth, He came to bring great change. The prophets of the Old Testament foretold of His coming and the dramatic changes it would bring. When He came to His people, the majority of the establishment rejected Him and His message.

They had heard of His coming, and it was actually the catalyst for most of what they did; but when He came, they were not willing to allow the changes to facilitate the new era Jesus Christ had announced. In times of change, it is very difficult for the established system and leadership to adjust to change.

One day, as Jesus was coming into the capitol city of Jerusalem, He literally wept over the city.

He said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!" Jesus Christ knew that their rejection would ultimately lead to their destruction. At the time of His crucifixion, their fear and dread of Jesus came to a head. The ultimate rejection was Jesus Christ being crucified on the cross. He had not done anything wrong; it was just the threat of upsetting the applecart, so to speak, that aroused their anger and brought them to the point of the crucifixion. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, the scriptures tell us that the veil of the temple was torn in half.

The veil represented the old order and how it operated. This tear meant things would never be the same. Unfortunately, the scripture does not give the details; someone must have simply sewn up the tear, because the turmoil subsided and everything went back to the way it was.

Everything stayed the way it was until the total destruction of the city. As Jesus had prophesied, the generation would not pass until everything was impacted by the rejection of Jesus Christ.

To me, this is similar to the times that we are now living in. Everyone knows that the times have changed the world we live in. The Old World Order that prevailed for many years is no longer viable with the advancing of China, India, and much of the former undeveloped world.

The economic order of the last 70 years has been shaken and will never be the same. In 2008, the fissure in our economy took many by surprise.

The impact of the shaking of our system is still obvious, with the turmoil in Europe and the uncertainty of the future of our nation. It seems like the "veil has been torn," but we are simply trying to sew it back up. The debt of the nations, and individuals, has had a terrible effect on our nation and provides an uncertain future for all; yet we are using the old methods to hold it together. Individual debts began to fall when people saw that precarious times had come upon us. Practical thinking started to prevail as people saw the dangers of spending money we didn't have.

Yet, with the encouragement of the established order, we were admonished to spend ourselves back into prosperity. This past Christmas, they tell us that individual debt has returned to pre-2008 levels—and naturally, government spending hasn't changed course either. The prophet Jeremiah spoke of a time like this—the people had become hard-hearted because they would not deal with the issues at hand. This is what the scripture tells us will bring change, a change that will transform and secure our future. A change that says, "Woe is me for my hurt! My wound is severe. But I say, "Truly this is an infirmity, And I must bear it." (Jeremiah 10:19 NKJV)

This year, I hope that we have someone who is willing to tell us the truth and a people who will respond to the need of the time!